Description
[004768] Johnes, Thomas. Sir John Froissart’s Chronicles of England, France and the Adjoining Countries, from the Latter Part of the Reign of Edward II to the Coronation of Henry IV. Hafod: The Hafod Press, 1803. First Thus. 4to. Hardback. Good. Five volumes complete, 1803-1810 – Volume One – [3]-iv, [1]-ii, [1], vi-xxiv, [1], 2-835pp, [1]; Volume Two – [3], iv-xxvi, [1], 2-744pp; Volume Three – [3], iv-xx, [1], 2-656pp; Volume Four – [3], iv-xx, [1], 2-692pp; and Volume Five – [5], 2-221pp, [3], plates. Original calf boards, later rebacked, raised bands, spine in six panels, title label to second panel, volume label to fourth, triple fillet border to covers, gilt roll to edges and inner edges, all edges marbled
A solid but unattractive reback, covers heavily worn, with scrapes to surface of calf, corners bumped. Internally very lightly browned, a few spots of foxing, off setting from engraved vignette on the titles, former owner’s name to head of titles, the fourth volume has the bottom corner missing from 4A3 (not affecting text)
The fifth volume comprises the revised edition of the Memoirs of the Life of Sir John Froissart (1810), the index, and the sixty attractive lithographic plates by J. Harris, including two maps one by Cary and one by Neele
The Froissart is the earliest dated work of the Hafod Press, with the pressman being James Henderson. The title vignette was designed by John Britton and engraved by William Angus, with three hundred quarto sets issued, and another twenty-five in folio, with a few having both coloured and uncoloured plates (see Dearden’s Thomas Johnes and the Hafod Press 1803-1810, in The Book Collector, Autumn 1973)
Chambers, Early Private Presses 1730-1900, II: 132; Lowndes 843; Libri Walliae 2092, 2094, 2096, 2098, and 2753 respectively
